The Penn's Grove record., 1887-11-26
A

| III great StIeJcn OI TOuRn pasture
land near Sweethope lake stands the
lonely little homestead where old Aaron
Wilkinson lived nearly twenty years
ago.
Far as the eye can travel not another
human habitation can be seen. only a
broat sweep of half reclaimed moor.
land, broken by huge gray powders,
clumps Of golden bracken, and with.
cred furze.
To eastward, however, there is the
cleaning water and the blue line OF
distant hills.
One autumn evening the old man sat
alone by the kitchen fire, gazing sor-
rowfully into it.
His pipe lay neglected on the hob, and
the beautiful collie that lay stretched
at his feet looked up in vain for the
kindly notice tn which he was accus.
toned, and by and by Moss rose up and
laid his head on his masters knee in
deep dumb sympathy.
The little farm, poor though 1t was,
and the small dark house were dear to
the old man; and from time to time he
glanced wistfully round the kitchen.
The fltful freight fell on the dark
beams of the uncoiled roof, danced upon
the shining tinware banging on the
wall, and the old fashioned plates and
dishes ranged along the polished oaken
dresser and lit up the brass face of the
ancient clock ticking away the hours.
All. dearl How long would it all be
hisp
Things had been going against the
farmer.
His sheep had died, and his hay had
been badly won, and. for the first time
in his honest, hard working life, the
rent day was close at hand and he could
not meet 1t.
So within that tiny homestead old
age sat alone with care and grief, while
outside were youth and love and hope
and happiness.
The gold Of sunset yet fingered in a
few faint streaks amid the dark clouds
to westward; but the shadow of ap.
preaching night lay on all the land.
Scarcely a sound was to be heard
save the fresh, clear voice of a young
girl calling home the cows.
"Hofy, Hofy, Hofyl'a as is the sweet,
half plaintive cry Of the north country,
and the answering low of the gentle
creatures came nearer and nearer
through the twilight.
Long ere the beasts have reached
their home another ear had heard the
maiden's call, and a tall handsome lad
was by Maggie's side, and her warn
young lips felt her lovers kiss.
Poor, motherless Maggiel her life had
been a lonely one, though the stern old
father loved her almost to idolatary-
loved her with an exacting intensity
that made him long to keep her ever in
his sight and jealous of all who looked
upon his darling. and by its very pas
sion raised a barrier between his child's
heart and his own.
For Maggie, with all her youth throb-
bIDg within her, and all her beauty
(which, wOmanlike, she had found out
she possessed), fretted against the love
which sought to cage her, and grew
impatient against age which had lost its
sympathy with youth.
The father had been we'll on In mid
die life when he married his young
wife, and may be she too had missed
something, If Maggie got her poetic
temperament and joy loving nature
from the mother that died so early.
Small blame to the girl that when
love stole into her heart she guarded
the secret carefully from the old mans
knowledge.
A mother would have guessed 1t di-
rectly had b seen low the blue eyes
deepened, how the red pouting lips lost
their childish curves and gained a PEN
sive tenderness; but the change was too
subtle q one to be marked by the old
farmer.
Full Of care, too, as he was through
that anxious summer, how could he
guess that its gloamings found Maggie
lingering by the we'll where the wild
roses grew, or watching the water
fowls build their nests In the sedges
with one who knew the haunts and
habits of every bird and beast and but
,rdy In the county aroundp
Such knowledge was at a discount
in the district, and Ralph Irwin was
thought little better then a fool by the
neighbors when they came across him
lying motionless as q log to watch a
wild duck in its flight or a hawk sweep
ing down upon its prey.
1t is odd that of all classes farmers
as a rule have the least interest in ma
ture and in the habits of untamed crea-
lures, and the most supreme contempt
for those who care to observe the ways
of beasts that have not got a market
value, or the growth Of plants that
serve neither for food nor for winter
warmth
So poor Ralph. with all his instinct
i've craving I'd know about everything
that lives, his treasures. of dead apd
living birds, eggs of all sizes and colors,
his carefully collected. If Ill set, moths
and butterflies, and his dried flowers,
leaves and ferns, wree considered quite
in the light Of a ne'er-do-well.
Ills father, too, had possessed the
anne tastes and more vagrant habits,
and had once got into a serious scrape
anent a~p0aching frollc; and the shadow
Of that disgrace was still remembered